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I was on my way out from the meeting room when I noticed Aizawa ahead of me and hurried after him, "sir?"

"What is it, Lionel?" he asked, stopping to allow me to reach him again.

"I want to see the first years, both classes," I told him, "Vlad King has already left so I'll find him another day but you're here. Can I meet them?"

He just turned and started to walk away, when I didn't follow him, he looked over his shoulder to me with a slightly raised brow, "follow me, Lionel."

"Thank you, sir," I followed him after him quickly and we walked together silently until we reached the 1-A classroom.

"Why're we at class 1-A?" I asked, "the second semester doesn't start for another couple days."

"They're here because they've been working towards getting their provisional licenses," Aizawa replied, "all but two of them have successfully received their licenses. But they're all in here because I told them to be."

I mean—fair enough, I suppose.

He pulled the door open, and the slight sound of scrambling around caught my attention before Aizawa looked back to me and nodded his head towards himself. I stepped into the room cautiously and gave the students a small wave.

"Hey, guys," I smiled as they all erupted into excited loud chatter.

"Settle down," Aizawa told them and soon enough they were quiet, and he focused forward, "Lionel has something he wishes to say—the podium is yours."

Within a few moments, Aizawa had somehow pulled a yellow sleeping bag out of seemingly nowhere and folded himself up away inside it, flopping down against the floor soundlessly.

Letting out a mildly amused sigh, I stepped around him and stood just to the side of the podium at the front of the class, looking to the students before bowing to them, "I am sorry for not being able to protect you—a lot of people have told me that I did protect you but in the end, some of you were hurt to the point of hospitalisation and that... is something I will never forgive myself for. So I am sorry..."

Silence was across the space before a moment before the sound of something being slammed against a desk echoed across the room followed by angry shouting. I looked up to see Bakugo with one foot on the top of his desk and multiple students dragging him back as he shouted.

I couldn't catch most of it because his shouts were mixing with the rest, but it was clear that the guy was pissed beyond anything I've ever seen before. After a little while it seemed to settle down again and Bakugo let out a huff as he dropped himself down onto his chair and glared at me, arms crossed.

"You don't get to apologise to us," he glared, "you protected us. One man cannot protect forty students alone. Don't go around thinking that you can! Idiot. You're not a God!"

Well I didn't think that—

Sighing, I just smiled and looked across them, "right. Of course. Regardless, I am sorry that I wasn't of much help to the rest of you until the end."

Even then, I wasn't much help. All I did was put myself between Bakugo and the villains. That's the most.

"Lionel," Midoriya spoke up, I looked over to him to see the class were all on their feet, "we also want to apologise to you. Because of us, you ended up overexerting yourself and almost dying as a result of that. We're sorry."

They all bowed to me, and I just stared at them.

Even Bakugo was bowing, although only because Kirishima was pushing his head down.

"Hey now, you lot aren't the reason I overexerted myself," I smiled as I leaned against the podium and they stopped their bow to me, "a lot happened that night. Anyway, I've said what I wanted to. I need to stop by Recovery Girl's office on the way back to my dorm because as you can see, still healing—"

I pointed at the bandages that were visible on my arms and neck thanks to my sleeveless shirt, "—oh and congrats on getting your provisional licenses. You guys really are going Plus Ultra."

Still feels weird as all hell to say that...

Turning towards Aizawa, I watched him for a moment before shrugging, "sir. I'm leaving now. I'll be with Recovery Girl or in 3-A's dorm if you need anything from me."

I bowed my head to him before giving the students a small wave and turning before leaving the room silently. I felt a shock of pain rush through me from my back and let out a small, pained sigh as I continued forward. Just how long will it take to heal?

I asked Dad to heal me, but he refused. Apparently, my wounds are a point of learning. Take them as a lesson, he said, yeah I'm taking it as a lesson. A lesson on neglect. Fuck—

"Oi—" I heard from behind him rather rudely and turned to see Bakugo stood in the hallway behind me, hands shoved in his pockets as he glared at me.

"What is it?" I glanced over him.

He looked away and muttered out a low, "thanks," before turning and returning to his classroom again.

I just stared for a moment before smiling.

"Yeah. You're welcome, I guess," I smiled as I turned and continued towards Recovery Girl's office, wincing from time to time as I went as my body refused to move around easily. When I finally reached her office, she gave me a long scolding, I'd been told by her to come straight to the office once I arrived the last we met but honestly I just decided to sleep which, in my opinion, is a fair choice.

"You look like you're healing well," she told me as she examined my wounds, "shouldn't be too much longer before you are completely healed up. You heal a lot faster than average, so I have no worries about you."

I pulled my shirt on once she'd finished wrapping the new bandage around my arm. The only place she hadn't replaced bandages around was my neck, but it still looked pretty bad.

Hold on—I don't remember my future self having these burns... did I change the future? But how? Everything went the way it was assumably supposed to back with the situation with Aysen—

"Lionel?" Recovery Girl pulled my attention back towards her and I quickly looked back at her, "what is on your mind, boy?"

"Well, I was wondering if you can heal the last of these wounds up?" I asked. True, it wasn't the actual thing I was thinking about right at this moment, but it was something I'd been thinking about, "wouldn't it just be easier to heal me up and let me get back to work again?"

"In normal cases I would agree," she let out a hum, "however, this year, I have decided to make students heal naturally from time to time. Learn a lesson or two while they're doing so. But not just this but, to heal these wounds of yours with my quirk completely would be far too straining on your body. Best to just heal naturally. And like I said earlier, you heal faster than the rest of the students here. Trust me, Lionel, within a week, maybe even two, you will be completely healed once again."

"I see," I sighed.

A week or two, huh?

What a pain.

"For now, just rest. Return to class tomorrow if you fell well enough to," she told me, "but if you feel you need a little longer, feel free to stay in your dorm and rest. No one will question you. For now the school is just trying to keep you safe and healthy."

Ironic considering that this is a hero school and one of our classes is quite literally going out and working with pros.

"I understand," I nodded, "thank you, ma'am."

"Of course," she smiled before passing me a lollypop and sending me back to the dorms.

I just walked back and pocketed the lollypop, planning to give it to Nejire once everyone gets back from classes this afternoon.

I think I'll just go take a nap while I wait. I'm tired.

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